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From: Huang Haiyin
Date: 01 Oct 2004
Time: 20:18:28 -0500
Remote Name: 61.175.193.51
As the chairman of Shanghai Stuttering Association (SHSA), I have the opportunity to know the elemental ideas of “successful breakthrough therapy” and some stutterers trained by the therapy. It is one of the therapies for stuttering in China, created by a recovered stutterer Xu Feng, now the chairman of Nanjing Stuttering Self-support Association (NSSA). Many stutterers feel it helpful in overcoming their problems. It is also popular in many self-help groups in China at the present time. What are the special points of the therapy? I suppose there are two elements: 1.To act for success: As it is pointed out, psychological factor plays an important part in stuttering. Most of the stutterers have been in a no-motion status (stuck) for too long. They fear exposing their stuttering, they fear change. So the first thing they must do is to admit to themselves that they need to change. The most important thing is action. Don't sit around waiting for any magic cure - you must take action yourself. You must eliminate evading behavior. 2.Breakthrough in some special circumstances: Some activities such as making speech in the public places, talking with unfamiliar people often have magic effects, these successful experiences can build up confidence. Both of the two points are beneficial for stutterers to change their attitude to life and stuttering into a more positive one. As I know, some stutterers did make great progress in improving their fluency after "successful breakthrough therapy". But some other stutterers didn’t t change. Although initial report is encouraging, no long-term effect report is available. No data for the children is available too. In my opinion, "successful breakthrough therapy" is a new form of therapy for stuttering in China. There are some reasonable factors worthy of further research. It may be good for chidren with stuttering. However, there are still many aspects to be strengthened and improved. For example, it regards stuttering as a pure psychological disease, and it lacks of necessary means when some stutterers fail to respond to the therapy. I wonder if there has been any therapy resembling "successful breakthrough therapy" in the other parts of the world?